Greetings and Salutations! I tend to ramble when I have unlimited whitespace and a drink, so sit back and relax... Skip to the "TaaDaa!" if you want to get to the point :)

Dad led his own band as vocals/guitar since before I was born and, to my joy, bought me a Drum set at age 7. (Somewhere along the way after watching them jam, it was Drums I wanted.) I eventually took lessons where I was stuck on a snare drum playing the different roll structures for months on end and lost interest in that, but not before playing my first for the school concert at age 9. I was asked into my first actual band at 10.

The lessons stuck with me, at least as far as the importance of rudiments go. I played in bands all through Junior- and High School. I never got really "great", but did get asked to do some session work for a couple of bands at Solar Studios in Halifax back in the 80's.

<sad music cuts in>

I moved out of home after High School, and being poor with no transportation, drums became unfeasable. They were just getting wrecked leaving them places, and I couldn't afford cabs to get them around. By the time I was 20, I had to quit. I took up acoustic guitar, and began learning to play that and writing songs. Played around here and there, even won a contest or two, but, eventually, I just became caught up in working, and that faded as well. From the age of 31 to 45, I barely picked up an instrument or even bought CD's.

<music brightens a bit>

Then, one day, I hauled my old acoustic out of the closet. The poor old thing. I relearned a bit on that, but decided something was missing, and decided I needed to be a "cool lead player". :) So, for the next 3 years, I was buying amps and guitars and pedals and getting bands together and having a rocking good time. Even bought a set of Yamaha DTX520 for the drummers to use if they wanted (but never really touched them, myself). It was going quite well, I managed to transition through line up changes, and learned a lot of stuff about "leading bands" (basically made a lot of mistakes). We were playing out, but eventually got into a situation that I got a bit fed up with and quit the whole band.

So, there I was in band-building mode again (just a couple months or so ago as I write). I was kinda taking a week or two off before starting up again and the drummer's drums were still sitting there in my jam spot. And I kept looking at them and I got to thinking. And thinking. And, then...

<TaaDaa!>

I realized all the barriers to drum playing were accidentally eliminated. I now had not only transportation, but my own dedicated jam spot (20x20 garage). All the drummers hated playing electronic drums, so I'd also renovated and sound treated it so we could use acoustic drums.

I set up my DTX kit to give it a try and it was interesting. Then compelling. Then I decided to play drums again. So, then, I needed an acoustic kit. My last drummer (Mike) is just such an awesome guy, I'd almost go back to guitar if he asked, just to have him back in my band. He sold me his Gretsch Maple Calalina kit at a super good deal. I still had a couple of (now vintage) Zildgian crashes, and Paiste HH... He fixed me up with some other essentials and really did a lot for me. Did I say he's an awesome guy? Yeah I'd probably play guitar for him if he asked.

Anyway, the reason I titled this "Full Circle" is because my first band was at age 10 with a certain guitar player named Dave and, now at age 50, my very first ever jam with real people included that same guitar player Dave from that very first band! Dave has his own band and plays pretty regularly, but we had never played again together and lost touch for many years. We happened to meet on the social media and talked about him playing guitar next time I was looking for someone. Well, I hope it is prophetic; it's at least a *little* coincedental that the first time I was in a band on drums is with the same guy in the first band I'm playing when I resume 40 years later! The gods must are at work here. :)

<wind down the outro music>

So (as of today) I have a couple irons in the fire. Have a duo thing on guitar with a female vocal/keyboard player to keep up on guitar work and writing, have a band I am starting with my old buddy Dave, and have taken up with a band being formed by one of the guitar players I worked with in one of my previous guitar player bands. (It does not pay to burn bridges in music!)

Well, that's the short version, anyway.

See you on the board!

Stands and stuff are cluttered around. I tuck DTX it away for jams and people and stands go there.

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Last edited by Razbo; 08-31-2013 at 07:29 AM.
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